Author-Illustrator Spotlight: Leeza Hernandez & Giveaway

We are so excited to present author-illustrator Leeza Hernandez, whose latest picture book, CAT NAPPED! just came out on June 12. Be sure to enter her giveaway for a signed copy of both CAT NAPPED! and the companion book, DOG GONE! Update: A runner up will receive 4x6 silk-screened art cards from Leeza.Tell us about your background and how
you became a children's illustrator.

I’m originally
from England, and after art school, pursued a career in editorial design—first
in newspapers, then magazines and books. During that time, I would illustrate editorially,
too, if there was a call for it. It wasn’t until after I moved to the US, that
I became involved in illustrating children’s books. Because of participating in
Illustration Friday (a great website to help keep the creativity flowing), I
clicked on a link to view someone’s work that then led me to SCBWI. I joined,
learned as much as I could about how to illustrate books for young readers, and
of course, I’m still learning today!

I met you at the SCBWI conference the
year you won the Art Showcase award. Did that open doors for you as a
children's illustrator?

Absolutely!
SCBWI has played a HUGE part in helping me get to where I am today for sure,
and it continues to do so. I will be forever grateful. This organization rocks!

Can you tell us about your books that
will be published this year?

I have two
books coming out this year:CAT NAPPED!(G.P.Putnam’s Sons) which released yesterday (June 12), which is a companion book to DOG GONE!that came out in 2012;

and EAT YOUR SCIENCE HOMEWORK (Charlesbridge)
releases August 5 which is a sequel to EAT YOUR MATH HOMEWORK (written by the lovely Ann McCallum) that came out in
2011.

I’m excited for both to release—it’s going to be a busy summer!

What was the most interesting thing that
you learned from working on these projects?

One of the
interesting things I learned when working on CAT NAPPED! was something that art directors talked about but the
penny never really dropped for me until working on this book: everything in
your illustration is a character.Not just the animals or people, but trees, vehicles,
buildings, plants, props, even a garbage can.

The truck that’s featured in the
book started off as a box truck, then revised to be a pick-up. I drew hundreds
of trucks, but just couldn’t get it quite right. As soon as I shared the
sketches with my editor (this amplifies the importance of communication) she
was able to pinpoint the issue right away. The truck was too modern and angular.
I needed to soften the edges and round out the vehicle. It was a light bulb
moment! Starting from scratch, I researched vintage pick-up trucks and
eventually found a character for the truck that suited the tone of the book and
the rest of the illustrations.

What projects are you working on now?

I’m currently
working on EAT YOUR HISTORY HOMEWORK,
also written by Ann McCallum, which comes out next year with Charlesbridge.

What is your typical work flow for an
illustration?

I work a
couple of different ways, depending on what medium I use, or whether the
illustration is for a promo piece or an actual book/dummy.

The majority of my
promo pieces come from spontaneous inspiration. I don’t really think too much
about them, but hear a phrase, read a quote, or think of some fun word play to
riff off. There’s usually one sketch. I scan it in and move things around in
photoshop to get the right composition. I print it out, create a more solid
line if the sketch is … er… sketchy…then I go straight to color.

If I work in
pencil, I go straight to final from the print out. If it’s a silk screen then
there’s more work to be done, with many screens to separate out the layers of
color, that would then be used to build the print.

Book dummies are a longer
process for me where I need the most time to work out sketches as I think,
rethink, and think some more. This can take several months, but once I’ve
nailed the sketches, and they’ve been approved, jumping to final typically
doesn’t take long at all.

Do you have any process pieces you can share with us?

Here’s the background story to this promo piece.
It’s only happened to me once so I like to share . . .

The piece, came from, dare I say it, a dream!
Bleary-eyed at 3am, I remember waking up, grabbing my sketchbook and scribbling
down what I could remember—a girl who let’s her hair grow wild and crazy things
happen.

After a few days, I explored the character a little more and from
sketch to revised sketch to lineart, and came up with this portfolio piece.

For
the final image I created the lineart and textures by hand, then collaged
digitally with some final tweaking on color in photoshop.

I sent it out on a
postcard to publishing houses and received some great feedback.

Now I have a
story to go with it which I am working on with my agent for submission.
Inspiration can strike at the funniest of times, and I am so glad I keep a
sketchbook by the bed, otherwise I probably would have forgotten all about it
by breakfast!

What advice would you give to aspiring
illustrators or author-illustrators? What is something you know now that you
wish you had known when you were starting out?

If you’re not
already a member, join SCBWI! Don’t spend time and energy worrying about trying
to please other people, but focus on who you are as an artist and channel that
energy to always making new art—even if it’s for just ten minutes a day. And
practice gratitude for every moment—ups and downs—because all of it leads to
valuable learning and growth.

What is something most people don't
know about you?

Er … I’m a
crazy cat lady and I love cheddar cheese. The stronger and stinkier, the better.
Not the cats… the cheese.

And I collect different illustrated Alice
in Wonderland books. Two of my favorites, interestingly, are in black and
white—one illustrated by Ralph Steadman, and the other, a beautifully simple
little book of mostly silhouettes, illustrated by Jeff Fisher.

Where can people find you on the
internet?

www.leezaworks.com (although please try
not to cringe if you visit, the site is currently being redesigned and
hopefully will launch next month) I’m on twitter every once in a while, too:
@leezaworks

Leeza
Hernandez has illustrated a handful of picture books including Cat
Napped! (Putnam, June 2014) which she also wrote, and Eat Your
Science Homework (Charlesbridge, August 2014) written by Ann
McCallum. Other titles include: Never Play Music Right Next to
the Zoo (S&S, October 2013) written by New York Times
best-selling author and actor John Lithgow; Cat Napped!’s companion book Dog
Gone! (Putnam) and Eat Your Math Homework (Charlesbridge).
She’s currently working on Eat Your US History Homework (Charlesbridge) due
out in 2015. When she’s not working on books, Leeza can be found
hanging out with her family making clay robots, tie-dying t-shirts, swimming or
simply relaxing with a good book!

Leeza sounds like my favorite kind of illustrator: a hilarious one! The stinky cheese-cats comment cracked me up. I can't wait to read Cat Napped and Dog Gone; they sound like Dav Pilkey types of titles and I am a huge Pilkey fan. :) I need to follow her advice of doing art even for just 10 minutes a day.

Thank you so much for the interview, Leeza! I'm a crazy cat lady too! I love cheese, but I stay away from the stinky stuff. Thank you so much for sharing your tremendous talents with the KidLit411 world!

Hi all, trying to leave comments but had tech issues before so trying again .. fingers crossed. Thank you ALL for such kind and lovely words and support. I am so glad you enjoyed this post - thank you to Kidlit 411 for having me over - it was my pleasure! Happy summer everyone... Cheers! leeza

Congrats to Lindsay for winning signed copies of DOG GONE! and cat napped! (I hope you like them) and congrats, too to all the folks who entered the giveaway and won a runner-up prize. The runner-up prints are little 4x6 signed, open edition silkscreens of dog from Dog Gone! and are all packaged and ready to mail out. Please expect them to arrive this week and thank you again!